Introduction: Vitamin K plays an essential role in the regulation of blood clotting. At birth, infants have significantly lower vitamin K levels than adults due to poor transfer through the placenta and breast milk and immature gut microbiota. Vitamin K deficiency can lead to internal bleeding, which can cause neurological damage and even death, so it is important that all newborns receive vitamin K prophylaxis. Purpose: The purpose is to present the role of vitamin K in the prevention of bleeding due to vitamin K deficiency in newborns and to investigate the routes of administration and their known advantages and possible disadvantages. Methods: We used a descriptive method with a review of Slovenian and English literature. The literature was extracted from Research Gate, PubMed Central, Web of Science, ScienceDirect and Wiley Online Library electronic databases using the following keywords: vitamin K, vitamin K AND newborns OR infants, vitamin K deficiency bleeding, vitamin K refusal. The search was conducted from November 2024 to April 2025. Twenty one articles were included. Results: We have reviewed 7 articles in detail. We found that vitamin K prophylaxis is highly effective in preventing bleeding due to vitamin K deficiency. Vitamin K deficiency bleeding occurred more frequently in low- and middle-income countries and in infants who received vitamin K orally or not at all. The intramuscular route is independent of parents' compliance and is effective even in the case of malabsorbtion, such as cholestasis or cystic fibrosis. Nevertheless, vitamin K refusal is still a growing trend. Discussion and conclusion: Many countries, including Slovenia where newborns receive 1 mg of vitamin K i.m., have introduced preventative vitamin K supplementation regimes to prevent vitamin K deficiency bleeding, but these regimes vary widely, highlighting the lack of standardised doses. As bleeding due to vitamin K deficiency is a relatively rare occurrence, most parents are unaware of the consequences of refusing prophylaxis. Informative discussions with parents should already take place during the prenatal visit so that they can make an informed decision.
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